Driving to Spain through France
 

Looking for advice on what’s the best way to get through toll roads when driving to Benidorm from Calais in our British car??
we have done this sort of driving before but always had European hire cars which must of had pre paid badges on them?

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

best advice i can give is to have a passenger that will be able to reach for the ticket and latter pay the many tolls..

Happy motoring ....

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

And... put the ticket somewhere safe and remember where you put it..

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

We have a toll tag for the French motorways, it’s invaluable for us when driving long distances (particularly in summer to avoid the queues). We’re in the south of France now having driven from Calais last week.

No idea on the Spanish tolls though as never driven there.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

Never heard of hire cars having a toll tag.
I have a Bip+Go toll tag which works in France & Spain. Your Liber-t electronic toll payment subscription | Bip&Go (bipandgo.com)

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

I'll second Bip&Go, I've used it throughout Spain and France with no issues.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

Heres what I wrote on another thread... Excellent gadget! Sail through the tolls..... auto pay from credit card... In FOUR countries.... Link at the bottom of post 15

https://britishexpats.com/forum/port.../#post13086485

Jon
PS so you can leave your partner at home :) :)

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

If you're just driving down and back up on your holiday, I'd have thought any reduction in toll prices would be more than offset by any charges you need to pay to get the device in the first place and the monthly subscription charges.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

We don’t pay any subscription for ours. We had to pay a fairly small fee (something like 6 euros IIRC) to get it, but that included delivery to the UK. We also had to pay a deposit, but will get that back if/when we return it. The six euros or so has paid for itself many times over when we can sail through the tolls without stopping.

There may be a subscription fee now, I’ve no idea - but even so it would have to be fairly hefty before we’d think the inconvenience of queueing for tolls (particularly with 2 kids & 2 dogs) would be worth saving that money.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

It is all about convenience. If you really want to reduce cost, use the N toll free roads and avoid the motorways.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

I have driven various routes over the last few years and the difference between tolls and N roads from the channel tunnel to inland of Benidorm (Polop) doesn't make it worth doing the toll roads in my view.
Although i have done the toll route and Ive waited maybe less than a minute to get through them at each one.

Channel tunnel (French side) to my home is here about 1800km and takes around 17hrs of continuous driving with the tolls. I normally break it up with a stop after around 10hrs (or when i get bored)
Same journey without tolls id around 100k shorter and last time it took around the same time even at slower speeds. Google maps suggest 20hrs. Again I break the journey up.

Depending on where you cross the border will influence the amount of tolls on the Spanish side. The ones on the AP7 have been removed for a long stretch now, but you can follow the A7 which is free.

We will be doing the reverse next year as it works out cheaper to drive to the Uk and back than it would be flying and car hire (by around £300), we have to go from the Uk to Australia anyway for my daughters wedding.

To the OP I will second the booking of the pet friendly cabin as far in advance as possible as they get booked up very quickly.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

I guess they are much more convenient if you're in a RHD car.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

Convenience & cost reduction yes, but this is where (on the road) the safety aspect comes into play.

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

Actually its better to read the information in the link to understand the actual policies, before 'thinking' or assuming anything.

You only pay a small charge for the month you use it. Ive paid zero in the past year or so as Ive rented cars and not driven down through the tolls.

As I said its a fantastic gadget when driving down and totally worth a couple of euros a month to sail through the tolls in 4 countries.... And avoid the queues. Probably the best additional accessory Ive got in the car....

Re: Driving to Spain through France
 

If you get the monthly charge paid for you by the hire car company then they will work out cheaper.

If you only pay in the month you use it, the maths of at most one holiday or weekend break per month doesn't work out for me and I just use the credit card, but I can't say that queues in toll booths have ever been that long.